Liber Aleph

THE BOOK OF WISDOM OR FOLLY 169 #m De Formula Feminæ (Of the Formula of Woman) OW this is the right Power and Property of a Woman, to arrange and to adjust all Things that exist in their proper Sphere, but not to create or to transcend. Therefore in all practical Matters is she of Might and of Wit to produce an Effect consonant with her Mood. And her Symbol is Water, that seeketh the Level, whether for Wrath, eating away the Mountains (yet even in this making smooth the Plains) or for Love, in Fecundity of Earth. But it is the Fire of Man that hath heaved up those Mountains, in huge Turmoil. Man them maketh Mischief and Trouble by his Violence, be his Will convenient to His Environment, or antipathetic; but Woman disturbeth by Manipulation, adroit or sinister as her Mood may be of Order or of Disorder. For any Man to meddle in her Affair is Folly, for he comprehendeth not Quiet; so also for her to emulate him in his Office is Fatuity. Therefore in Magick though a Woman excel all men in every Quality that is profitable for her for Attainment, yet she is Naught in that Work, even as a Man without Hands in the Shop of a Carpenter; for She hath not the Organism that might make Use of this Opportunity. Of all this is she aware by her Instinct, for her Nature is to Understand, even without Knowledge; and if thou doubt herin the Wisdom of thy Sire, do thou seek out a Woman (but with Precaution) and affirm these my Words. So shall she wax woundily wrath, and look grisly upon thee, proclaiming in a shrill Voice her manifold Excellences, which she hath, and concern the Matter not a Whit. n